Apparatus for continuously measuring drying strains and residual shrinkage

Claim 1

IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING SHRINKAGE IN A TEXTILE MATERIAL, THE COMBUSTION WHICH COMPRISES MEANS FOR FEEDING A CONTINUOUS LENGTH OF TEXTILE MATERIAL TO A WETTING ZONE, MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID FEEDING MEANS AT CONSTANT SPEED, MEANS FOR REMOVING THE MATERIAL FROM THE WETTING ZONE AND POSITIONED WITH RESPECT TO THE FEEDING MEANS TO PROVIDE A DEPENDING LOOP OF TEXTILE MATERIAL THEREBETWEEN, FIRST DETECTING MEANS POSITIOMED ADJACENT THE BOTTOM OF SAID LOOP RESPONSIVE TO A LOWER PREDETERMINED LIMIT FOR THE BOTTOM OF THE LOOP, SECOND DETECTING MEANS ADJACENT THE BOTTOM OF THE LOOP, AND ABOVE THE FIRST DETECTING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO AN UPPER PERDETERMINED LIMIT FOR THE BOTTOM OF LOOP, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO IMPLUSES FROM EACH OF SAID DETECTING MEANS TO VARY THE SPEED OF THE MATERIAL REMOVING MEANS TO MAINTAIN THE BOTTOM OF THE LOOP BETWEEN SAID DETERMINED LIMITS, MEANS FOR APPLYING A WETTING AGENT TO THE MATERIAL IN THE WETTING ZONE, THIRD MATERIAL HANDLING MEANS SUBSEQUENT TO THE MATERIAL-REMOVING MEANS SO POSITIONED AND ARRANGED WITH RESPECT TO SAID MATERIAL-REMOVING MEANS TO FORM A SECOND DEPENDING LOOP IN THE MATERIAL PASSING THEREBETWEEN, THIRD DETECTING MEANS POSITIONED ADJACENT THE BOTTOM OF SAID SECOND LOOP RESPONSIVE TO A LOWER